Quarantine queue chaos with THOUSANDS of angry Britons stranded in Calais after last-minute rush to get ferries to the UK before two-week enforced isolation comes into force
- ‘Thousands’ of Brits are queuing at Calais to cross over, says one stranded driver
- New quarantine measures for international arrivals in Britain start from midnight
- P&O says it ‘could not predict’ how many would wish to cross The Channel
Thousands of stranded Brits are queuing at the Port of Calais this evening before the government’s two-week quarantine begins.
There are long delays at the northern French port, some travelers saying queues have stopped them from making their allotted crossing.
One Brit, who was returning from Spain on business said: ‘P&O have oversold their tickets and are only taking 200 people on at a time. There are thousands of people sitting in their cars.
Brits rushing to get home before quarantine measures come into effect are facing long queues at Calais tonight
‘We got here for 4.30pm, in time for our ferry at 7.30pm, we’ve barely moved since and haven’t even got past border control.
‘I don’t think we’ll be sailing tonight. If we don’t get back by 12pm then we will have to go into quarantine, that’s why we tried getting back before then, but we’re one of thousands of Brits sitting in this queue.’
One traveller described the service as a ‘joke’ after being told he would have to travel on a 10pm crossing, after booking his ferry for 2.45pm.
Daniel Bevan gave up on queuing earlier today and is staying in a nearby hotel for the night.
He said: ‘We booked a return with P&O four days ago having made a trip to see my partner’s elderly parents.
‘We arrived for our Sunday night crossing to discover queue stretching back from the ferry to the other side of passport control. Most in the queue were booked on the previous ferry.’
Earlier today P&O ferries apologised to a customer who waited five hours to board his ferry home from Calais.
Nick Phillips wrote: ‘Absolutely appalling customer service at Calais today. People who have pre-booked ferries being bumped so that cash bookings on the day can be made. No apology at check in desk, despite 1 hour wait to check in and further 4 hours for ferry.’
The ferry service replied: ‘We are very sorry for the extremely long waiting time in Calais today. ships are operating with reduced capacity to ensure all social distancing measures are adhered to. We have seen large, unpredicted numbers in Calais following government announcements.’
P&O tweeted earlier on Sunday to say it had ‘could not predict the demand’ at the French port
The operator later commented: ‘We sincerely regret that we could not predict the demand from Calais today and that you have had to wait so long for the next available sailing.’
From midnight tonight almost all international arrivals to Britain will be subject to a 14-day quarantine rule.
With only very limited exceptions for lorry drivers and NHS workers, everyone coming to the country by plane, rail or sea will be ordered to give an address and self-isolate for two weeks, with spot checks from officials.
In a joint letter in Telegraph earlier this week, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘We will all suffer if we get this wrong and that is why it is crucial that we introduce these measures now.
‘Let’s not throw away our progress in tackling this deadly virus. We owe it to the thousands who have died.’
The 14-day quarantine scheme will be reviewed on June 29 to see whether low case numbers in some destinations might allow the measures to be relaxed on a country-by-country basis.
MailOnline has approached P&O for a comment.